Salem man indicted on child pornography charge

BRENTWOOD - A Salem man has been indicted for allegedly possessing child pornography months after police raided his home and seized a trove of computers, hard drives and other equipment.

Troy Thompson, 67, faces a single count of possession of child sexual abuse images stemming from an investigation by the state's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Prosecutors charged him with having a single image on his computer on March 16.

Thompson remains free on $10,000 personal recognizance bail, but he now faces the possibility of spending up to 7½ to 15 years in state prison.

Salem police and ICAC members raided Thompson's house Jan. 5 to execute a search warrant and question him about his computer use. At the time, police only knew someone at the home was using an Internet connection to download the illegal videos and images, according to a police affidavit.

Thompson admitted he was downloading and viewing the child pornography while being questioned by investigators, Salem Detective Eric Dugas said in a sworn affidavit. "During the interview, Troy admitted to downloading, viewing then deleting child sexual abuse images as well as having 'chats' involving having sexual relations with children," Dugas said in the affidavit.

Thompson agreed to be interviewed by police after a team of officers descended upon his house at 4 Mascoma Road with a search warrant, according to court documents. Thompson was arrested June 20 - nearly a year after Comcast supplied investigators with his Internet account information and home address. Court documents suggest police were able to trace the pornography to Thompson because he was using peer-to-peer software to share videos.

The Jan. 5 interview was done by ICAC members Allison Vachon, an attorney general investigator, and Greenland Police Chief Tara Laurent.

After the search at his home, Thompson was involuntarily committed overnight at Parkland Medical Center's Center for Life Management. He made several threats about harming himself or having police officers harm him, according to police.